Ooops, I took a little unplanned hiatus there, didn’t I?  Besides the Italy posts (and this post), I’ve been pretty MIA.  I’ve been busy, but also not busy, doing fun things, but also not enough to write about.  Sometimes I lose my momentum for this blog, and then other times I have 5 posts waiting to be published.  These last few weeks have been some of the former.  But anyway, just to shake things up, I thought I would share where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to.

Let’s start with the most obvious.  I have been eating.

^My breakfast everyday.  Wheat flakes with milk and sliced peach or nectarine.  And coffee.  This leaves me incredibly full for hours and it motivates me to get out of bed.  #Phat

I tried the new Honest Greens restaurant in Nuevos Ministerios.  Verdict- totally my style in terms of food (so light and fresh and healthy!) and design (plants, steel, wood, light!) but not my style in terms of price.  A little too pricey for a bowl of vegetables that left me hungry.

But I went with the MuchBites crowd, so it’s all good!

I’ve been working with them all year and feel so lucky to be a part of the group.  What an unexpected group of friends.

Moving on.  I have seen a few people, but by now, they are all gone.

One afternoon, my roommates and I all went out to get drinks as a sort of farewell.  It was the last night we were all in the apartment together.

I was sick in that day (it was right after Italy), but still had fun.  It’s hard living with people (with anyone!), but I am really going to miss them.  I’m writing this from a completely empty apartment.  Madrid is empty too.  August makes everyone gtfo and head towards the beaches!  Look how deserted!

Oh!  Christine and her two friends, Kelsey and Vicki, came to visit!!  We went to Barcelona together and had a fantastic (and hilarious) time.  One night, we drank a lot of wine and told really funny stories.  I laughed the kind of laugh that only exists with best, best friends.

I have been going on a LOT of walks.  Like a loooottttt…..

But they get me out of the house and give me time to listen to podcasts.  I have been listening to How I Built This, which is a podcast with interviews with various CEOs of famous companies and how they built their company.  For example, I have listened to the stories of: Instagram, Airbnb, Lyft, Five Guys, Whole Foods, and Mark Cuban (he is so cocky..but he’s a billionaire, so…).  It’s really good.  Highly recommended.

Luis and I have been hanging out a lot since he doesn’t mind me being his puppy and waiting for him to get back from work 😉  We went bowling this week and I killed it. 😉

Haha……………………..

I haven’t just been relaxing!  I have also been working a little bit!  I got hired with two companies and have been LOVING both.  Really!  They are both really enjoyable for me.

The first is WithLocals, which is a private tour company.

I take people on tapas tours where they can try 10 different tapas.  If you want to see my promo video, click that link above, search Madrid, then go to Madrid’s Favorite Food Tour:  The 10 Tastings.  You’ll see a bunch of tour guides, but when you see me, hover over my photo and my video will pop up.  It’s cheesy 😉  I had my first tours recently and they have been SO MUCH FUN!  Meeting new people, lots of chatting, and people really think I know a lot (I guess I do!!)

My other job is teaching English online with VipKid.  It’s a company that allows you to teach English through video chat to kids in China.  All of the lessons are created for you and each class is just 25 minutes!  They pay decently, and you can even wear pajama bottoms since no one will ever know.  I can pick my hours and close time slots if something comes up and I don’t want to get booked.  Since I have been home a lot, I have been allowing them to book me a few hours in advance, which let’s me earn extra money at the last minute.  If you are possibly interested in working for the company, please use my referral link!  Here it is:  https://t.vipkid.com.cn/?refereeId=3570040

Between the two jobs, it isn’t a lot of money, but it’s paying rent and kind of allowing me to eat more than pasta (kind of haha).  

That’s it!  What have ya’ll been up to?